


3 Hours Earlier

by CandyQueenAO3



Series: Ilha de Queimada Grande [3]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Blood and Gore, Character Death, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Multiple Endings, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:42:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23905612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CandyQueenAO3/pseuds/CandyQueenAO3
Summary: Immediately the leader of the rescue team was yanking him up by his arm. “Come on, Fell! We’re all getting out of here!”The naga hissed, baring fangs as long as a human hand. “Don’t you touch him!”One of the humans shrieked, “It fucking talks!”“He’s not an ‘it’!” Ezra babbled desperately, struggling to escape the vice-like grip on his arm. “Crowley!”Crowley’s eyes narrowed at the place where the leader’s hand was clamped around Ezra’s arm. He lunged forward, faster than any of the humans could blink.*~*~*~*~*A reader of my ongoing fic "Saltwater on Skin" asked me what would happen if the Rescue Team had caught Crowley and Ezra together.This fic is the answer to that.(For context, it is HIGHLY recommended you read "Saltwater on Skin" up to Chapter 13)
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Ilha de Queimada Grande [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704274
Comments: 57
Kudos: 189





	1. Lost

Up until the moment he died, Captain Medina would never be able to tell what it was that had convinced him to visit the island early. Maybe it was Seaman’s Intuition. Maybe it was a desire to get the search and rescue mission over with. Maybe it was simple guilt at the thought of leaving Ezra Fell stranded in that wretched place for longer than he had to be.

Whatever it was, it was the driving force behind Medina and his crew making landfall on “La Isla del Diablo”, as the Spanish called it centuries ago, a full three hours ahead of schedule.

***~*~*~*~***

Ezra was cozied up in their nest, _just_ about to get to the good part in his book, when Crowley burst into the room looking wild-eyed and frantic. He looked as he did the day of the hurricane, glowing eyes, fangs and all. _This time_ , however, the scales had spread _entirely_ from his lower half to cover the skin of his human half all the way over his face to where his hair joined his scalp.

“Crowley? What’s going on?” Ezra asked.

“We need to go, angel, _now!”_

“‘Go’? Go where? You aren’t making any sense!”

Crowley slithered forward as fast as a cobra strike and pulled Ezra to his feet. “I _promise_ to explain everything soon, but we _need_ to get out of here! There’s… something’s coming.”

“What do you mean ‘something’s coming’? Tell me what’s happening!”

Crowley’s eyes burned like yellow fire in the comparatively dim light of their nest. He started dragging Ezra froward “Come _on,_ angel! _Now!”_

Whatever was coming, it was clear that Crowley was terrified. Ezra didn’t know what it was that could make his friend act like it was Armaggeddon, but he didn’t want to stick around long enough to find out.

The human put his arms around Crowley’s neck, who promptly lifted him up. “Alright, dear, let’s go.”

“Thank you, angel. _Thank you._ The nest isn’t a safe place to be right now, so I’m going to take you somewhere that _is_ ,”

When they exited the cave, they were instantly met with a cacophony of shouts and screams.

“Jesus _fuck!”_

“What is that thing?!”

“Hold on, is that Fell?”

Crowley clutched Ezra closer to him and hissed threateningly. Ezra, for his part, was at a loss for words.

Rescue had come!

Before he could climb down out of Crowley’s arms, however, the naga swung his tail, bowling over several of the humans.

“Crowley, no! Stop!!”

One of the humans, the leader if the insignia on his shirtfront was any indication, rolled into a crouch and drew his pistol, aiming it at Crowley’s head.

“Hang on, Fell!”

“Stop! Don’t hurt him!” the blonde begged.

The gun went off, its sharp retort echoing through the trees, and Crowley’s head snapped back as Ezra screamed.

Just as quick as it happened, however, the redhead was straightening himself out. The bullet had chipped the scales around his face, but hadn’t really done more beyond that. The man who’d fired the gun made to pull the trigger again, but this time Ezra performed a strange kind of climbing movement to shield his friend’s face with his own body. “Wait, please! This is just a misunderstanding!”

Another gunshot went off, this time striking Crowley in the shoulder from the right. The ineffectiveness of it was the same as the other, but the force of it was enough to stagger the naga, who dropped Ezra to the jungle floor.  
Immediately the leader of the rescue team was yanking him up by his arm. “Come on, Fell! We’re all getting out of here!”

The naga hissed, baring fangs as long as a human hand. “Don’t you _touch_ him!”

One of the humans shrieked, “It fucking _talks!”_

“He’s not an ‘it’!” Ezra babbled desperately, struggling to escape the vice-like grip on his arm. “Crowley!”

Crowley’s eyes narrowed at the place where the leader’s hand was clamped around Ezra’s arm. He lunged forward, faster than any of the humans could blink. The Rescue Leader didn’t have enough time to raise his weapon again before the naga was clamping his jaws shut around his throat and _tearing._

There came a brilliant spray of crimson and Ezra was relinquished. He staggered away, horrified at the sight of his _dear_ , sweet serpent ripping a man to pieces in front of him. There was more gunfire, but every bullet just bounced off Crowley’s scaly hide as if they were little more than paintballs.

Even as he felt hands come around his shoulders to pull him away from the gruesome sight, Ezra’s heartbroken scream rang out one final time over the noise, “ _CROWLEY, STOP!!”_

It was like flipping a switch.

Everything went silent; gunfire, screams and all. Crowley dropped the body of the Rescue Leader with a grisly thud. His maw was lined with gore, and his arms were stained up to the elbows with blood and viscera. He exhaled slowly and wiped the carnage from his face with the back of his hand, but that only ended up smearing it worse. He held out his arms to Ezra.

“Come on, angel. Let’s get out of here,” Crowley said calmly.

Ezra didn’t move. 

If anything, he scooted closer to the other humans. 

Crowley looked confused for a moment, then made a “come here” gesture.

“Did you hear me, angel? I said we need to go,”

Ezra shook his head.

“Crowley, you… you _killed_ that man,” the blonde whispered, frightened.

“He was grabbing you, angel,” the naga insisted. “He was _hurting_ you!”

Everything Ezra had just witnessed came crashing down on his head with the force of a fallen star.

“He wasn’t _hurting me_ you- you- these people are here to _rescue me!”_ he screamed.

Crowley reared back as if struck. At the moment, however, Ezra couldn’t bother caring. His chest was heaving and he felt _sick_. He wiped a trickle of sweat from his brow with his arm only to see it come away wet with blood that wasn’t his. He started shuddering and let out a tortured moan.

He shot Crowley a venomous, hate-filled look that had the naga looking down at the ground in shame.

“You never intended to stay with me, did you?” Crowley whispered. “You never wanted to be my mate.”

Ezra felt a little bit of his anger and fear trickle away. “Crowley, I- I wasn’t… it isn’t _like that_ . You _don’t understand!”_

The redhead gave a shiver as the scales around his face and torso retracted, making him seem so much less fearsome and so much more hurt. He lifted grieving, ochre eyes to Ezra’s and the last shreds of the blonde’s fury evaporated away.

Tears tracked their way down Crowley’s face, cutting a swathe through the blood. His trembling lips parted.

“I thought you loved m-”

A final gunshot crack pierced the silence and Crowley tumbled back. His body hit the ground with a thump and Ezra was running forward, screaming his name.

_“CROWLEY!!”_

The naga stared heavenward through sightless eyes.

A single, smoking bullet hole stood out an angry red-black against the slope of his forehead.

Ezra was sobbing, shrieking, shaking the naga’s shoulder and then probing at the instantly fatal wound with trembling hands as if trying to push the shattered fragments of skull back together.

“C-crowley! _Crowley, no! Please! Crowley!!”_

Hands came up behind Ezra to pull him away from the corpse. The blonde kicked and screeched and fought, struggling to get back to his friend’s side.

“Let me go! Please!! No! Crowley! Don’t- please- _Crowley!!"_

Sense and reason had departed him. His entire world narrowed down to the sight of his would-be mate sprawled out on his back, never to get back up again. All around him were frantic voices, none of which he recognized.

“Fell’s hysterical! Get him to the transport and get him some sedation!”

Ezra just continued weeping, but his struggles were getting weaker. The person who had been holding him back ran gentle hands through his hair and began whispering reassurances.

“Calm down, Mr. Fell. It’s okay. You’re safe now. You’re safe. He can never hurt you again,”

“He can never hurt you again.”


	2. Found

Crowley was enjoying a pleasant night’s sleep, dreaming naughty things about his beloved mate whom he was currently wrapped around, when he was startled awake by said mate shrieking as if he were being stabbed through the kidneys.

Ezra thrashed against his hold, kicking the entire time and muttering, “No! Cro- pl- no!”

Crowley pinned Ezra’s wrists by his head and stilled his frantic jerking with the weight of his own body.

“Angel! _Angel!_ Wake up!”

Ezra’s eyes snapped open like he’d been galvanized and he sucked in a deep, desperate gasp. His eyes were crazed as they darted wildly around the nest, but when they landed on Crowley’s face above him, they stilled.

The human lurched upwards, throwing his arms around the redhead’s neck in a near-suffocating embrace. _“Crowley!_ Oh thank God! It was just a nightmare, just a nightmare…”

Crowley embraced him back.

“I don’t think I’ve _ever_ seen you that scared. Are you okay? What happened?” he asked.

Ezra was now openly bawling into Crowley’s shoulder, smearing it with heavy tears.

“It was horrible! I- I dreamt that you killed Medina and- and- and then I got _you_ killed because I broke your heart! You were _shot_ and I couldn’t- oh _God!”_

Crowley sat up and Ezra crawled into his lap after him, not breaking their hold the entire time and even winding his legs around the naga’s waist to make sure that he was touching as much of him as he could.

Crowley scratched soothingly at his mate’s back. “Ssh, it was just a nightmare, angel. I’m safe. Medina’s safe too. _Everybody’s safe._ It’s okay. It’s okay.”

“You… you died thinking I didn’t love you,”

Crowley cupped Ezra’s face in his hands and gave him a reassuring smile. “It was just a nightmare, my dove. I know you love me. You’ve proven it time and time again, even when I didn’t deserve it.” He moved a hand to softly thumb at the umber Mark visible against the paleness of his mate’s neck.

“Don’t ever leave me?” It was a request, but sounded more like a soft, desperate plea.

“I will _never_ leave you,”

Crowley threaded his hands together behind Ezra’s lower back and began pressing quick, sweet kisses to every inch of his face, each one followed by “my angel”, “my love”, “my mate”, “my _everything”_ , and anything else he could think of.

When Crowley gently closed Ezra’s eyelids with a kiss to each one, the blonde didn’t open them again. He went slack against his mate’s chest, exhausted from the night’s terror and sleep followed soon after.

Crowley just held him for a few more minutes, listening to the faint snoring.

“I will never leave you,” he repeated. “So don’t ever leave _me.”_

He twisted onto his back, careful not to jostle Ezra and re-awaken him. The steady in-and-out of the human’s breathing did more to lull Crowley to sleep than any lullaby ever could.


	3. An Alternate Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an alternate ending to the events of Chapter 1, basically explaining what would have happened if it WEREN'T all a dream. If you want the happy ending, stay on Chapter 2 and do not read this one; there is no happy ending to be found here. Seriously, I CANNOT stress this enough! Ezra essentially drifts through life as a trauma-riddled, majorly depressed, disassociative mess while everyone else moves on around him.
> 
> Content Warnings for PTSD, Depression, Dissociation, Uncomfortable Sexual Situations, and Implied/Referenced Suicide.

_ Sense and reason had departed Ezra. His entire world narrowed down to the sight of his would-be mate sprawled out on his back, never to get back up again. All around him were frantic voices, none of which he recognized. _

_ “Fell’s hysterical! Get him to the transport and get him some sedation!” _

_ Ezra just continued weeping, but his struggles were getting weaker. The person who had been holding him back ran gentle hands through his hair and began whispering reassurances. _

_ “Calm down, Mr. Fell. It’s okay. You’re safe now. You’re safe. He can never hurt you again,” _

_ “He can never hurt you again.” _

***~*~*~*~***

Those six words echoed in Ezra’s head over and over and over again as he was wrangled onto the S&R team’s boat. They echoed when a needle was jammed into his neck, flooding his veins with some kind of sedative he couldn’t pronounce. And they’d continued echoing when, pliant and limp, he’d been bundled up in a shock blanket and plonked down on a bench on the deck.

The person who had held him back earlier, a short, handsome man with wavy black hair and kind brown eyes by the name of Teddy, allowed Ezra to lean against him as they sat together. Teddy’s arm was around his shoulder, rubbing a line up and down it.

“It’s alright, Mr. Fell. We’re going to get you home soon, don’t worry,” the dark-haired man said reassuringly. “I know you’re a little out of it right now, but can I call you by your first name?”

Ezra didn’t answer. His mouth felt like it was too big for his face and like his tongue was about to fall out at any moment. His mind was full of fuzz, but the words,  _ “He can never hurt you again”  _ cut through the haze with vicious clarity until it was all he knew. His head bobbed once as he began to slip under, and Teddy seemed to take that nodding-esque motion as a yes.

“Thanks, Ezra. Get some rest now. You’re safe now,”

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

***~*~*~*~***

Ezra didn’t know how long he slept.

All he knew was that his first thought upon returning to consciousness was that he wished he hadn’t woken at all.

He was in the A&E department of some hospital and, judging by the overabundance of very British-sounding doctors bustling in and out of his room, he was back home in London.

Home.

For some reason, the word brought tears to his eyes and he sniffled.

The sound of it startled the nurse checking his vitals badly enough for the poor woman to nearly jolt out of her skin. “Oh fu-udge, Mr. Fell! You startled me! How are you feeling?”

Ezra didn’t answer.

His eyes drifted to her, then to the ceiling as they stared ahead at nothing.

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

His nurse sighed in a mixture of frustration and worry before brushing a sweat-soaked curl out of his face.

“I’m going to let Dr. Woods know you’re awake,”

The woman straightened up and puttered out of his hospital room, shutting the door behind her. She didn’t close it all the way, however, and Ezra could hear his nurse’s voice floating through the crack.

“Dr. Woods, Mr. Fell is conscious. His pulse-ox is fine, but he’s not speaking,”

Another voice, this one with a quick Spanish accent.

“Understandable. The poor man’s been through a traumatic experience,”

“Please… please let me see my brother,”

That had been Gabriel’s voice, ragged and heavy with grief. It was  _ almost  _ enough to perk Ezra up. A tiny little voice in his mind was jumping for joy and shouting in relief at the thought of reuniting with his younger brother. 

That little voice, however, was buried beneath so much fog and numbness that Ezra didn’t even so much as blink when the door was pushed open and Dr. Woods entered, trailed closely behind by Gabriel and Anathema.

Dr. Woods was a diminutive woman, barely 5’2. Her face was crinkled with laugh lines, and her strawberry-blonde hair was pulled up in a tight bun. Both her hands were shoved into the oversized pockets of her equally oversized starch-white coat. She gave him a smile full of false cheer.

“Glad to see you’re awake, Mr. Fell. I’m Lorena Woods and I’ll be looking out for you during your stay here. How are you feeling today?”

Ezra’s eyes shifted to her, then back to the ceiling. He heard Gabriel suck in a broken gasp and Anathema whisper, “Oh,  _ Ez!” _

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

***~*~*~*~***

Upon release from the hospital, after a thorough psych evaluation, Ezra had been diagnosed with PTSD comorbid with Major Depression and bouts of Dissociation. It had been difficult to get him to speak, but he eventually did, even if his sentences were short and clipped with a flat, dead-eyed stare.

He’d been working with his therapist on opening up about what had happened to him on the island, but progress was non-existent. Anytime Anathema peeked into his aura to try and discover the root of his trauma, all she saw was a dark, endless, sucking void of black that gave her a day-long migraine.

Gabriel, bless his soul, had been doing everything he could to help his older brother heal. He took Ezra into his home, drove him to his weekly therapy appointments, made sure he took his medications on time, and made him all of his favorite meals.

None of it helped.

Ezra couldn’t sleep most nights, and he simply lied awake in bed above the covers, listening to Gabriel’s muffled sobbing through the wall.

In the mornings, like this one, Ezra had taken to sneaking out and wandering the empty streets before the sun rose, just to find  _ some  _ scrap of silence, of peace. It didn’t stop the words, though.

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

_ “He can never hurt you ag-” _

Something heavy slammed into Ezra from the front and he would have fallen backwards had a hand not caught his wrist before he could.

“Oh dang! Sorry, mate! I didn’t mean to… Ezra?”

The blond blinked in the low light, and he recognized the man in front of him, no doubt out for an early-morning jog.

“Hello, Teddy,” he said. The other man broke out into a wide smile.

“Well isn’t that just the way? How have you been?” Teddy exclaimed excitedly, letting go of Ezra’s wrist now that he was no longer at risk of toppling over.

Ezra’s face shuttered and he stared down at the asphalt; at where he was barefoot and still dressed in his pajamas. Teddy’s smile fell. “Oh, man… come on. Let’s get you home. Tell me where you’re staying and I’ll walk you back.”

The shorter man gently looped his arm through Ezra’s. Ezra wanted to break away and run. He didn’t  _ want  _ to go back to Gabriel’s house, he didn’t  _ want  _ to see the heartbreak in his younger brother’s eyes and know that Gabriel was doubtless praying for his recovery.

Too bad for Gabriel, Ezra had died with the crack of a gunshot.

Ezra had died… when  _ he  _ had.

Ezra couldn’t even say his name.

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

***~*~*~*~***

Dr. Luca, Ezra’s psychiatrist, smiled as he sat down on the couch across from her. She clicked her pen, and pressed it to a page in his chart.

“Today is the three-month mark since you’ve begun treatment with me,” she said kindly. “How are you feeling thus far?”

Ezra stared down at his hands, folded limpy in his lap.

“Fine,” he lied.

_ I’m a wreck. I can’t stop shaking, even months later. I can’t stop crying either, but everytime I do, my eyes sting. I’ve cried so many tears that my cheeks burn from the salt. _

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

“That’s good! Glad to see we’re finally making progress!” Dr. Luca chirped. She scribbled something on his chart. “Any new developments? Projects? Hobbies?”

“I have a boyfriend,” Ezra mumbled. “His name’s Teddy.”

“That’s  _ wonderful,  _ Ezra!” his psychiatrist cheered. “Tell me about him.”

_ I met him when his boss shot my would-be mate in the head. _

_ “He can never hurt you again.” _

“He was with the people who sav- resc- the people who found me,” Ezra said quietly. “He’s very kind and patient. He takes care of me.”

Dr. Luca made another note, then set the chart down on the end table beside her chair and leaned over to better look at Ezra. He couldn’t meet her eyes.

“Being with him isn’t triggering?” she asked carefully. “He doesn’t bring up any memories of that animal attack?”

Ezra swallowed.

Animal attack.

They had reduced his and Crowley’s entire story to an “animal attack”.

All in the effort to maintain their credibility.

“No,” Ezra answered.

_ Yes, but I don’t have the strength to tell Teddy to leave. I don’t have the strength for anything anymore. The only reason I’m talking to you now is because Gabriel bundled me up in the car and brought me here. _

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

Dr. Luca smiled and relaxed a little before picking up his chart again.

“That’s good. What do you and your boyfriend like to do together?” she asked.

“Walks. Cinema. Restaurants. He gets me out of the house,”

“I’m glad to hear it. Healthy socialization is important in the recovery process,”

_ Teddy goes for walks with me. He used to jog in the mornings, but now he slows down so I can keep up. He never lets go of my hand when he does. He loves horror movies, but never watches them with me because he doesn’t want me to be scared. We watch romantic comedies instead. He hates them, but he thinks they help me. Once a week, we have a date night and go out to a different restaurant every time. I would never have tried Indian-Italian fusion cuisine were it not for him. _

_ Teddy is a good man. _

_ The perfect man. _

_ I don’t deserve him. _

_ I don’t want him. _

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

***~*~*~*~***

They were having sex the first time Teddy told Ezra he loved him. 

Teddy had leaned down, still thrusting, and whispered into Ezra’s ear, “I love you.”

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

Ezra’s eyes were screwed tight.

“I- I-”

“Ssh, it’s alright, my angel,” Teddy sighed happily, kissing away the stinging tears rolling down Ezra’s cheeks. “You don’t have to say anything. Just let me take care of you. I know you love me too.”

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

At the new pet name, Ezra sobbed and clung tighter to his boyfriend, who mistook the sound for one of pleasure and picked up his pace.

***~*~*~*~***

Gabriel exited his car, came around to the passenger side door, and opened it. He extended a hand to Ezra and helped him out of the car and onto the pavement. Gabriel scrutinized his brother’s grey suit  _ (Grey. So much grey. Everything was grey. Ezra missed red.)  _ before adjusting the bowtie.

“The Ritz is a pretty classy establishment, Sunshine,” the younger Fell brother remarked. “Any idea why Teddy asked you here tonight?”

“It’s date night,” Ezra replied quietly.

Gabriel opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, then closed it with a tight-lipped sigh. Over the top of Ezra’s head, near the front doors of the restaurant, he could see Teddy making a frantic slicing motion across his throat with his hand, and pleading in all but words  _ not  _ to give away anything. Gabriel patted his brother on the shoulder.

“Well, enjoy your evening,” he said happily. He shot Teddy a thumbs up and gave Ezra a wink before climbing back into his car and driving off.

Ezra watched him go through blank, unseeing eyes until he felt Teddy’s scorching hand slip into his and he flinched.

Teddy took him into his arms, not noticing the faint tremors in Ezra’s shoulders as he ran his other hand through bone-white curls. “Ssh, it’s okay, my angel. It’s okay. It’s just me.”

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

“Ah, yes. Sorry, my dear. I startle easily,” the blond said.

_ It’s the gunshot, you see. I keep hearing it. The words too, over and over. I’ve memorized them, the sound of them, the feel of them behind my teeth.  _

“I know you do. I should have been more careful when I approached you. If you want, we can go back home,” Teddy offered.

_ You’re such a good man. You deserve someone better. Someone who is capable of loving you back. I’m not that person. _

“No, it’s alright,” Ezra said, giving his boyfriend a tiny smile. “You spent so much time on our reservation.”

Teddy met Ezra’s smile with a megawatt grin of his own. “Well, we still have a bit of time before our table is ready, so I wanted to ask you something,” he admitted. “Do you know what today is?”

Ezra shook his head.

“No,”

Teddy’s smile loosened, but didn’t dim. It became more tender. 

He took both of Ezra’s hands in his. “Today marks the one-year anniversary of the day I met you. It’s been one year since I got to help rescue you.”

Ezra blinked rapidly, willing his tears not to fall.

It didn’t work.

“Ah, yes…”

_ Has it really been only a year? It feels like so much longer.  _

_ One year. _

_ It’s been one year since I lost him. _

_ One year since I denied Crowley’s love, and he died because of it. _

_ Would things have been different had I told him the truth? _

_ Would he have lived had I admitted I loved him? _

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

Teddy nodded his head eagerly and released one of Ezra’s hands to go rifling through the pocket of his suit jacket.

“In honor of today, well… I  _ was  _ going to save this for after dessert but, seeing you standing here, looking like the angel I know you are, I just couldn’t resist,” He spoke almost too quickly to be heard. Then, he pulled a black velvet box out of his pocket and sank to one knee on the steps of the Ritz. Without letting go of Ezra’s hand, Teddy flipped open the lid of the box revealing a silver band shot through the middle with a line of black. “Ezra Fell… will you marry me?”

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

Something in Ezra cracked, then.

He was no longer standing on the sidewalk in front of one of the fanciest restaurants in London.

_ He was standing in his and Crowley’s nest, with the redhead excitedly patting his own chest and asking, “ _ **_My_ ** _ mate?” with that hopeful smile that Ezra came to love. _

_ Ezra was then throwing himself into Crowley’s arms and peppering his face with frantic kisses and saying, “Yes, yes, yes!” over and over. _

“Yes, yes, yes!” Ezra sobbed wildly and Teddy let out a whoop of triumph.

The dark-haired man rose from the ground and slipped the ring onto Ezra’s limp finger. Then he spun his fiance into a wide circle. Their two voices rose and fell with laughter; one joyous and free, the other manic and ruined.

Ezra suddenly went limp and sunk to the ground, unable to support himself. Teddy kneeled on the pavement beside him, holding him tight and whispering words of love and devotion. He promised that they’d be together  _ forever _ and be so  _ happy! _

_ “He can never hurt you again,” _

Ezra simply kept laughing.

He thought of nothing.

He lifted his eyes to the surrounding street; watched cars go by.

Watched double-decker buses go by.

And then he thought of the end.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I getcha? If I did, come scream at me at candyqueenblog.tumblr.com


End file.
